Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Are you eating the juveniles?

Boone and I were at Tioman last week, for work of course. The three nights we were there, food was the first and last thing on Boone's mind.

For those who have not been to Tioman, the main centre is the village, Kg Tekek. It is also where the airport, schools, clinic and the well-known Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort are located. You don't have to worry about food when you are at Tekek. There are plenty of food stalls along the main road, including the Ikan Bakar stall near Barbura Resort.

The last night we were there, we had Ikan Bakar with our client. We ordered a huge Kerapu, a smaller white snapper, stingray (cowtail?), sotong, telur dadar and sayur masak ikan masin. What caught my attention was the stingray. It was rather small in size.

Was it a juvenile stingray? Or is it that its species is naturally smaller in size as compared to other species?

I was concern because just a day before, I saw a juvenile shark (probably more than one) in an ice box on a wooden fishing boat docked on Sg Tekek. Its fin was still visible, but I believe not for long. The trade of shark fins is lucrative, thanks to the Chinese for being a big fan of shark fin soup. Just three weeks ago, I saw a number of juvenile sharks (without their fins) in a morning market at Brickfields, KL (my hometown!). This is worse than losing the adults (maybe there are not many adults left too). Fewer juveniles, especially of large fish and marine mammals, in the oceans also mean that there will be fewer adults in the next couple of years/decades. This will ultimately disrupt the natural balance of the web of life in our world's oceans.

The next time you visit an Ikan Bakar stall or a seafood restaurant, check out what they have. You'll be surprised.